How much is the UMC-1 worth?

[nezff]

well, Shake if you are just experiencing EQing, and you think EmoQ is good, lol.

You need to take another step to Audyssey.

[nezff]

I just think it's great that we get to share our experiences with SO MANY options that are available to us. Just consider how far we have come from Dolby ProLogic. I'm glad we all have different setups too. If we all had the same, it would be rather boring and we would have nothing to talk about. LOL

First I've heard of Audessey Pro. Sounds pretty cool but pricey.

Carbon, I agree the EmoQ doesn't offer much. There is no doubt Audessey is a far superior room calibration software than EmoQ is currently. I'm curious what Emotiva is going to use for the XMC.

Probably their own room correction.

I also have used Pioneers MCACC, that was a joke.

[nezff]

Youth, here is a good read. Certificates, 32 calibration points etc...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1346723

[carbon summit]

IMHO, Im glad I bought my 5508. Main reason for upgrading from my 876 was Audyssey XT32. It does wonders. The fact that I can add Audyssey Pro to it for another $550 is also great. With pro, you can actually see what your room is doing and adjust the filters for each individual speaker.

I can understand some people buying the UMC because it is cheap. The clearance price is even better and mostly why people are scooping it up currently. I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction.

Granted my 5508 cost $1499 when I bought it, but was definately worth the money in my opinion. Leaps and bounds better than my 876(XT).

These are just my opinions UMC owners, sorry if I offended anyone.

Thanks a lot nezff....[] Now the upgrade bug will bite when I will start wondering what I'm missing by not having XT32.

I agree with this 100%: I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction. When I watch a movie I don't want to have to deal with center channel drop outs or whatever issue. I want to sit down and enjoy. I don't want to waste what little free time I have trying to fix and tweak.

As far as only having XT is it leaps and bounds ahead of anything I've ever used before so I'm happy with it. Before I used YPAO in a RX-V663 receiver and EmoQ in the UMC-1 so the results of Audyssey XT were very impressive.

[Fish]

...We have tried most every mass avr released over the last 12 years, I never heard one that could do music like a dedicated prepro.It's just my, and his, and everyone that worked there's opinion, ymmv.

Fish, I value your opinion but feel the above must be an overstatement given how long an accurate comparison would take...Heck, I've a/b'd 2 units for over a couple of days and realized how different even a setting or two makes...I also have visited alot of high-end stores with a critical eye/ear and appreciate that they also spend more time setting up their higher end items with larger profit in the best scenario possible...Not to mention how hard it is to run all of the new fangled EQ programs after different speakers and AVR comparisons.

EDIT: If you were comparing AVRs without separate amplification to Pre/pro with and not level match that would throw the listening results in a fair comparison out completely, btw.

I actually brought many units home, several at a time.I also brought many speakers home too, I could bring anything they sold home and try it(on floor), pretty nice.It's not very hard to know when a unit sounds good, it's all just my opinion.I suggest anyone making an choice/opinion try a lot of different units, I have.

[Zen Traveler]

.

...As far as only having XT is it leaps and bounds ahead of anything I've ever used before so I'm happy with it. Before I used YPAO in a RX-V663 receiver and EmoQ in the UMC-1 so the results of Audyssey XT were very impressive.

Shake evidently likes his VERY NICE home theater and no doubt it sounds GREAT, but I hope he didn't rely on the ears of Guns and Roses sound dudes unless they had instrumentation to measure what was supposed to be heard.

[Zen Traveler]

[i actually brought many units home, several at a time.I also brought many speakers home too, I could bring anything they sold home and try it(on floor), pretty nice.It's not very hard to know when a unit sounds good, it's all just my opinion.I suggest anyone making an choice/opinion try a lot of different units, I have.

Cool.... How does the UMC-1 stack up against the more expensive pre-pros (if you've written about it please direct me to the thread) ? Just as good if it didn't have the "bugs"? I would expect a few things could be overlooked in a $500 unit compared to a $3500-7,500 competitor, but surely some of them sounded better than the UMC-1 if price was taken out of the equation. Are they all equally as good on music and what type (2 channel or multichannel) was compared?

[shake777]

nezff, I 've had Audyssey twice including the wide and height channels that come wiith the nine/eleven channel 4810 which I took the time, energy, and expense to set-up so you can laugh all you want. It just didn't do it for me. Nic

[Fish]

IMHO, Im glad I bought my 5508. Main reason for upgrading from my 876 was Audyssey XT32. It does wonders. The fact that I can add Audyssey Pro to it for another $550 is also great. With pro, you can actually see what your room is doing and adjust the filters for each individual speaker.

I can understand some people buying the UMC because it is cheap. The clearance price is even better and mostly why people are scooping it up currently. I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction.

Granted my 5508 cost $1499 when I bought it, but was definately worth the money in my opinion. Leaps and bounds better than my 876(XT).

These are just my opinions UMC owners, sorry if I offended anyone.

Price for me was of little consideration, it's 1/3 the price of the cheapest prepro I ever owned.My UMC has never failed, I had several Onkyos fail with horrid service to follow, the internet is full of stories too, bugs? All anyone has to do is try a unit, if you like it fine, if not move on.For some reason people can hardly move on from the UMC, there must be something about it that makes them want to justify their next purchase that I don't understand.I would think they would say they tried it but it didn't work out.But for some reason that's not enough, even after explaining many times why, it's still not over.It's like when someone gets a divorce or something.

The thought of paying $1500 for an Onkyo is something I suppose I'll never understand when I could have a Rotel etc...but to each their own.

[Zen Traveler]

...My UMC has never failed, I had several Onkyos fail with horrid service to follow,....For some reason people can hardly move on from the UMC, there must be something about it that makes them want to justify their next purchase that I don't understand.

I have no opinion of Onkyo AVRs but have seen similar experiences as yours. Otoh, I posted a link earlier to a couple of threads at AVS and there are quite a few people that prefer their AVRs processing and Audyssey EQ over the UMC-1. In fact, Shake's experience with the Denon AVR 4810ci has been unique to everything I've read and linked to.

[Fish]

[i actually brought many units home, several at a time.I also brought many speakers home too, I could bring anything they sold home and try it(on floor), pretty nice.It's not very hard to know when a unit sounds good, it's all just my opinion.I suggest anyone making an choice/opinion try a lot of different units, I have.

Cool.... How does the UMC-1 stack up against the more expensive pre-pros (if you've written about it please direct me to the thread) ? Just as good if it didn't have the "bugs"? I would expect a few things could be overlooked in a $500 unit compared to a $3500-7,500 competitor, but surely some of them sounded better than the UMC-1 if price was taken out of the equation. Are they all equally as good on music and what type (2 channel or multichannel) was compared?

I don't know that I posted my experiences with other prepros as many members own/owned them at the time.I don't feel the need to tell members what I think of their gear or choices unless there is an over riding reason.There is no unit good for everyone, just like some don't like Klipsch speakers but we do.I really prefer to leave others gear alone unless they want to tell me why it's better than mine(not directed at you in any way as I respect your choices for you).The UMC does compare quite well with those I tried, not always better, in some cases not quite as good by a small margin.I will say the Outlaw 990 is one of the best at any price(under 5k) I tried but prefer not to say the worst.The UMC is the unit to beat at it's price and offers a lot for music lovers but is not for everyone and I don't think I ever suggested anyone buy it, only that I like it.

[Youthman]

When I watch a movie I don't want to have to deal with center channel drop outs or whatever issue.

FWIW, I've never had one issue while watching a movie....none. Never had center channel drop out issue at all. My only quirks are occassional "pop" when the HDMI first locks on when you turn it on, EmoQ isn't accurate....offhand, that's the only two things that I can see are an "issue".

[Zen Traveler]

..The UMC is the unit to beat at it's price and offers a lot for music lovers but is not for everyone and I don't think I ever suggested anyone buy it, only that I like it.

I wasn't trying to be overly aggressive but it's in my nature when I see statements as I responded to below to ask for clarification, because it was insinuated that everyone should like the UMC-1 based on your (and "everyone" else who was with you over the 12 years of experimentation) experience...Heck, I disagree that there should be drastic difference between upper-end Home Theaters that have been calibrated regardless who does the comparison. []

...We have tried most every mass avr released over the last 12 years, I never heard one that could do music like a dedicated prepro.It's just my, and his, and everyone that worked there's opinion, ymmv.

Fish, I value your opinion but feel the above must be an overstatement given how long an accurate comparison would take...Heck, I've a/b'd 2 units for over a couple of days and realized how different even a setting or two makes...I also have visited alot of high-end stores with a critical eye/ear and appreciate that they also spend more time setting up their higher end items with larger profit in the best scenario possible...Not to mention how hard it is to run all of the new fangled EQ programs after different speakers and AVR comparisons.

EDIT: If you were comparing AVRs without separate amplification to Pre/pro with and not level match that would throw the listening results in a fair comparison out completely, btw.

[shake777]

nezff, Didn't mean that obnoxiously and I missed the point. As good as Audyssey is (wide and height not necessarily included for me) it doesn't work for me like EQing. Nic

[carbon summit]

When I watch a movie I don't want to have to deal with center channel drop outs or whatever issue.

FWIW, I've never had one issue while watching a movie....none. Never had center channel drop out issue at all. My only quirks are occassional "pop" when the HDMI first locks on when you turn it on, EmoQ isn't accurate....offhand, that's the only two things that I can see are an "issue".

The funny thing about the UMC-1 for me was sometimes it was great over all, then you'd do an upgrade to get rid of a smaller annoyance only to take one step forward on that little quirk and take too steps back and get a new bug that you didn't have before. Thats how I ended up getting center channel drop outs. So then I'd try to revert back to an older firmware get issues I didn't have when I was using that firmware in the past. For me .04 was pretty good but then I tried the next one to see if I could speed up the HDMI lock times and started having problems so I went back to .04 and had problems I never had before with .04 the first time. Then if you reload the same firmware again it might work fine.

I guess my advice is if yours works leave it alone because you never know the results you'll get when you upgrade.

[Youthman]

The funny thing about the UMC-1 for me was sometimes it was great over all, then you'd do an upgrade to get rid of a smaller annoyance only to take one step forward on that little quirk and take too steps back and get a new bug that you didn't have before.

Precisely why I have not upgraded to the latest firmware release. I have the next to the last FW release. Waiting awhile to get a feel for how it has worked for others. If it were a more simple process (like updating via internet over Cat5 with my PS3), I would probably have already tried it.

I guess my advice is if yours works leave it alone because you never know the results you'll get when you upgrade.

The tech support guy even told me that as well. He suggested not to update unless you are really having problems.

[nezff]

IMHO, Im glad I bought my 5508. Main reason for upgrading from my 876 was Audyssey XT32. It does wonders. The fact that I can add Audyssey Pro to it for another $550 is also great. With pro, you can actually see what your room is doing and adjust the filters for each individual speaker.

I can understand some people buying the UMC because it is cheap. The clearance price is even better and mostly why people are scooping it up currently. I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction.

Granted my 5508 cost $1499 when I bought it, but was definately worth the money in my opinion. Leaps and bounds better than my 876(XT).

These are just my opinions UMC owners, sorry if I offended anyone.

Price for me was of little consideration, it's 1/3 the price of the cheapest prepro I ever owned.My UMC has never failed, I had several Onkyos fail with horrid service to follow, the internet is full of stories too, bugs? All anyone has to do is try a unit, if you like it fine, if not move on.For some reason people can hardly move on from the UMC, there must be something about it that makes them want to justify their next purchase that I don't understand.I would think they would say they tried it but it didn't work out.But for some reason that's not enough, even after explaining many times why, it's still not over.It's like when someone gets a divorce or something.

The thought of paying $1500 for an Onkyo is something I suppose I'll never understand when I could have a Rotel etc...but to each their own.

Ive had several Onkyo also and never had a problem. I have read one thread where there was a simple problem with the 08 series onkyos having a IDE cable replaced. wow.

There was a Denon thread where there was a blue rain issue. I guess we shouldnt buy those either. Its funny you mention bugs, because you say the UMC was a good buy, but then you down onkyo for supposed bugs which the UMC has a ton of.

Like i said, I didnt mean to offend any UMC owners.

[nezff]

nezff, Didn't mean that obnoxiously and I missed the point. As good as Audyssey is (wide and height not necessarily included for me) it doesn't work for me like EQing. Nic

I dont have wide and height and still love it.

[nezff]

IMHO, Im glad I bought my 5508. Main reason for upgrading from my 876 was Audyssey XT32. It does wonders. The fact that I can add Audyssey Pro to it for another $550 is also great. With pro, you can actually see what your room is doing and adjust the filters for each individual speaker.

I can understand some people buying the UMC because it is cheap. The clearance price is even better and mostly why people are scooping it up currently. I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction.

Granted my 5508 cost $1499 when I bought it, but was definately worth the money in my opinion. Leaps and bounds better than my 876(XT).

These are just my opinions UMC owners, sorry if I offended anyone.

Thanks a lot nezff.... Now the upgrade bug will bite when I will start wondering what I'm missing by not having XT32.

I agree with this 100%: I myself never liked it because it is plagued with bugs and has a terrible room correction. When I watch a movie I don't want to have to deal with center channel drop outs or whatever issue. I want to sit down and enjoy. I don't want to waste what little free time I have trying to fix and tweak.

As far as only having XT is it leaps and bounds ahead of anything I've ever used before so I'm happy with it. Before I used YPAO in a RX-V663 receiver and EmoQ in the UMC-1 so the results of Audyssey XT were very impressive.

I was the same way. I sold my original onkyo with multeq. bought the 886 with multeq xt. then sold it and moved to xt32.

[Zen Traveler]

nezff, Didn't mean that obnoxiously and I missed the point. As good as Audyssey is (wide and height not necessarily included for me) it doesn't work for me like EQing. Nic

I dont have wide and height and still love it.

Dude! The Denon AVR 4810ci that he is trying to get rid of would be da bomb as the kids would say. It doesn't have the same power supplies as my AVR-4806 but really has good reviews on AVS...Again Shake has a real nice theater and as I sit here drinking a nice Smithwick's I can imagine the guys from Guns and Roses sitting on his couch teaching him about "EQing" and that had to be a BLAST! [8] Welcome to the Jungle..WAAA!!! [8] [H]